Way off the top

He said: "When you compare Arsenal to Chelsea and City, those two have the quality as well as big, strong, aggressive, athletic players,” said Davies.

"When you look at Arsenal, I guess they’ve got the footballers, but you can’t really see the strong, battling players. But the football they play they don’t really need that, because if you’ve got the possession more often than not, you don’t need to chase the ball and have big, battling midfielders."

Davies also claimed the Gunners twice nearly signed Mo Diame before his move to the KC Stadium - and ultimately missed a trick.

Winterburn told talkSPORT: "“Arsenal haven’t got that stable team at the moment, they aren’t able to hit anywhere near their best form and I would think Arsene Wenger is feeling very frustrated about recent performances and the team’s lack of ability to kill off the game when they’re in winning positions.

“They don’t have any defensive cover at the moment - Monreal isn’t a centre-half, he’s a left-back - and for a club like Arsenal they probably shouldn’t have been left in that position."

Starlet stopper

The Gunners have stepped up their interest in young Barcelona goalkeeper Andre Onana , reports Tutto Mercato.

Cameroon-born Onana is out of contract at the Nou Camp next summer and is yet to be offered a new deal.

That has alerted Arsenal, who have reportedly contacted the 18-year-old's agent to formally register an interest.

Onana is yet to feature in the first-team for Barca but has been part of the prestigious UEFA Youth League this season.